Family Sues Trader Joe’s After Boy Gets Salmonella From Peanut Butter

SOUTH GRAFTON (CBS) – The family of a four-year-old South Grafton boy who was sickened with salmonella after eating tainted peanut butter has now filed a lawsuit. The Trader Joe’s chain and Sunland, Inc., which manufacturers and packages the peanut butter for the popular food stores, are the targets.

Back in July, Jackson Henson became ill for days complaining of headaches and stomach pains and a fever that shot up to 104 degrees. “He just started having excruciating cramps and he would yell out every five minutes ‘my belly hurts, my belly hurts,'” said his mother Brandi Henson.

Jackson regularly ate peanut butter sandwiches and the peanut butter was purchased on multiple occasions between May and July. He required two visits to the doctor and a stool sample submitted during one of the visits later tested positive for salmonella.

“My client was feeding her family what she believed was a safe product,” said attorney Bill Marler. “It’s a shame that a staple of nearly every American kid’s diet is once again causing illness.”

The family hopes to make a statement more than anything else by taking legal action.

“It’s one of the ways companies get held accountable for the testing of food and the safety of food they produce,” said Brandi Henson. Jackson may have warmed up to peanut butter again but the ordeal was compounded by a new baby home from the hospital and concern Jackson might be contagious.

Brandi Henson says they’ve lost some faith in product safety. “I feel like everything we eat is a little questionable, but we can’t not eat everything,” she said.